ASUS Rampage III Extreme Review

Introduction:

Well the cat is out of the bag. Intel's Gulftown processors are out, and they are beastly. Not only in the power sense, but in the monetary sense as well. Clocking in at around $1000, these chips are at the typical entry price for the Extreme series processors. If you have the cash to drop on one of these chips, then the chances are you have the cash to invest in some worthy parts to accompany it. When you spend that much money on something, you want to get every ounce of value out of that item, and in the case of the i7 980X, ASUS wants people to know that buying their newest addition to their Republic of Gamers series, the Rampage III Extreme, is the first step to doing just that. Whether or not the board holds up to that hope, I can't yet say. But with ASUS's excellent history with their ROG line of components, and features like RC Bluetooth, and ROG Connect, they might very well have an excellent contender here.

Closer Look:

The box that the Rampage III Extreme comes in is well prepared for world domination. I have always been a fan of the sleek style that ASUS adorns components with, usually opting for more quality enclosures when a cheaper substitute would have sufficed. The outer box has a dark red theme with a red and silver flame motif exploding out from the bottom-right corner. Rampage III Extreme is proudly proclaimed near the top in a pretty awesome pearlescent print. Underneath the title, Designed For Overclocking and Windows 7 Ready logo can be seen. A ton of different specification logos are plastered along the bottom leading up to the ASUS logo on the right. On the back of the retail box another huge list of specs can be seen proclaiming all of the different features to be found on this board. The list is quite large. Opening the front flap of the box reveals the motherboard through a thick plastic covering. On the top of the flap, another huge assortment of features are displayed. Overall, I am quite excited to see how this board performs!

Opening the retail box and pulling out the contents reveals two typical ASUS-esqe black packing boxes found in almost every other quality ASUS product around. The boxes are of acceptable quality and do an excellent job compartmentalizing the package and keeping everything separate and protected. The top box holds the motherboard while the second box opens up with all the accessories and add-ons the board includes. There are a ton of included goodies to be had with the Rampage III Extreme, so I don't think anyone will need to pick up any additional adapters or cables to be up and running with this motherboard.

Okay, there is way too much to cover in one page, let's move on and take a closer look at everything that's included!